Commercial or vocational vehicles, such as medium or heavy duty trucks, are used for a variety of applications. It may be desirable to attach accessories to a truck for use in a particular application. Such accessories may include, but are not limited to, snow plows, wenches, hose reels, tread plates, auxiliary bumpers, crash bars, brush guards or pavement spreaders. These accessories are typically attached to the front of the truck.
Accessories such as those described above, may generate very heavy loads during use and are thus preferably attached to the frame of the truck as that typically is the strongest structure of the vehicle. Oftentimes the space available to access the frame rails on the front of the truck to attach the accessories is very limited. For example, the truck front bumper may be positioned close to the front or leading ends of the frame rails.
In view of the above, it is desirable to provide a frame extension and method that permits accessories to be economically and securely installed to the frames vehicles.